Lamp fixture and mounting therefor



Sept. 9, 1958 w. M. STOCKMAN 2,851,587

LAMP FIXTUREAND MOUNTING THEREFOR Filed Sept. 26, 1956 WILLIAM M. \STOCKMAN 'w an States The invention relates to improvements in lamp fixtures and is more particularly concerned with an adjustable fixture of a type that can be attached firmly to a machine, particularly a portable typewriter of the kind that is adapted to be contained within a carrying case.

The lamp fixture embodying the present invention is constructed in such manner that the lamp thereof may be easily and quickly moved into a position of use above the top surface of a typewriter housing or into a position of non-use within the recess in the top wall of the typewriter housing within which the keys are located so that the typewriter, with the fixture attached, may be enclosed within a carrying case of a type commonly used for portable typewriters.

More particularly, the lamp fixture includes a standard or arm at one end of which is mounted a lamp receiving socket which may have associated therewith a conventional type of shade or hood. The other end of said arm is secured for pivotal movement to a bracket that includes novel means permitting it to be easily and quickly attached to or detached from the typewriter housing. In the present disclosure the bracket includes a flange and a clamp plate associated therewith and between which the customary inturned flange on the lower edge of one side wall of the typewriter housing is clamped. The bracket also has, preferably integral therewith, a pair of supports or lugs each of which is arranged to support the pivotally mounted arm firmly in either of its positions of adjustment.

It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide an adjustable lamp fixture embodying the novel features hereinabove described.

Another object is to provide a lamp fixture of the character referred to with a novel mounting bracket.

Another object is to provide a mounting bracket for a lamp fixture with novel means for securing the bracket to a typewriter housing.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claim, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and minor details of the structure may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

For the purpose of facilitating an understanding of my invention, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment thereof, from an inspection of which, when considered in connection with the following description, my invention, its mode of construction, assembly and operation, and many of its advantages should be readily understood and appreciated.

Referring to the drawings in which the same characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding or R i 29851587 Pa nted p 1958 Fig. l is a perspective view of a portable typewriter and its carrying case, showing the novel lamp fixture mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the lamp fixture.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational View of the lamp fixture showing it in its elevated position in full lines and in its collapsed position in broken lines.

Fig. 4 is an end elevational view of the mounted end of the lamp fixture showing a portion of the typewriter housing in section, taken substantially on line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional detail view taken substanially on line 55 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the accompanying drawings and particu larly to Fig. 1, the novel lamp fixture, generally indicated at 11, is shown mounted upon a portable typewriter 12 which is seated on the bottom portion 13 of a carrying case; the top portion of which is shown in open position, as at 14. The typewriter includes a housing having a top surface or wall 15 and a recess or downwardly sloping front end portion 16 within which the typewriter keys 17 are located. The lamp fixture 11 is shown in Fig. 1 in one of its two positions, it being movable from the position of use illustrated, downwardly in a manner to be described presently so as to locate the lamp 18 carried thereby within the recess 16 so that the top portion 14 of the carrying case may be placed over the typewriter in the usual manner without necessitating removal of the lamp fixture.

The lamp fixture comprises a tubular standard or arm 19 having its upper extremity bent substantially at right angles thereto, as at 21, upon which is firmly secured a conventional lamp socket 22 carrying the lamp 18. A shield 23 may be mounted firmly on the lamp socket 22 so as to direct light rays emitted from the lamp 18 downwardly over the top surface of the typewriter.

The other end of the tubular standard or arm 19 is bent at an angle to the longitudinal axis of said standard to provide a rearwardly extending portion 24 which is flattened to permit the electric supply wire 25 leading to the lamp socket 22 to be threaded into and through the tubular standard and thus be substantially concealed thereby. The fiattened end portion 24 of the standard 19 is apertured at its end to receive freely therethrough a stud 26 mounted firmly in and projecting outwardly from a mounting bracket 27. The stud 26 is provided with a head 28 spaced forwardly of the portion 24 of the standard and a stiff compression spring 29 is arranged around the stud 26, between its head 28 and said standard portion 24, so as to hold the standard substantially rigid or firm at its pivotal mounting on the stud 26 and thereby minimize lateral displacement or vibration of the standard 19.

The bracket 27 includes a substantially triangular body portion 31 on which the stud 26 is mounted and a flange 32 formed integral with its bottom edge and extending perpendicular thereto in a direction opposite to the direction the stud 26 projects. The flange 32 is suitably apertured to receive therethrough a pair of screws 33, the heads 34- of which are in abutment with the bottom face of the flange 32 with their threaded stems extending upwardly therefrom and threadingly engaged in tapped openings in a clamp plate 35. The flange 32 and clamp plate 35 constitute means for detachably securing the lamp fixture to the typewriter.

As illustrated, the typewriter housing includes a vertically disposed side wall 36 which may be offset outwardly adjacent its bottom edge, as at 37, and is provided with an inturned flange 38 on its lower margin. The back wall 39 (Fig. 5) of the typewriter housing is also formed with an inturned flange 38a on its lower margin, co-extensive with the side wall flange 33. The bracket flange 32 and clamp plate 35 are adapted to cooperate, when the lamp fixture is mounted on the typewriter, with the flanges 38 and 38a for clamping said flanges firmly therebetween. It should be quite evident that in order to mount the bracket 27 on the typewriter housing, it is only necessary that the screws 33 be unscrewed sufliciently to permit the clamp plate 35 to move away from the flange 32 whereupon said flange and clamp plate are jointly thrust inwardly and upwardly beneath the typewriter until the clamp plate 35 is in a position to be slipped over the flange 38 when the bracket is moved into the substantially vertical position illustrated. The bracket may then be moved toward the back wall 39 of the typewriter housing so as to engage the end portions 32a and 35a of the flange and clamp plate, respectively, about the back wall flange 38a, whereupon the screws 34 are tightened to draw the clamp plate tightly downwardly against the flanges 38 and 38a to clamp the same therebeneath. 'In order to prevent unwanted rocking or tilting of the clamp plate 35 when in clamping position, the free edge margin of the bracket flange 32 is formed with one or more upwardly extending detents 41 of a height corresponding substantially to the thickness of the flanges 38 and 38a.

When the lamp fixture is in the upright position of use as shown in Fig. 3, the lower portion thereof inwardly of its pivotal mounting, at 26, is seated in a yoke formed by an outwardly upwardly extending lug 42 formed integral with the forwardly facing edge of the apex portion of the substantially triangular shaped body portion 31. This yoke functions, in addition to the function of the spring 29, to support the standard 19 rigidly in usable position. When it is desired to move the standard 19 about its pivot 26 from the full line position illustrated in Fig. 3, downwardly into the broken line position there shown, the standard is first lifted upwardly to clear the lug 42 and then rocked outwardly away from the bracket 27, which movement is permitted by the spring 29, and then downwardly into its broken line position with its flattened portion 24 engaged behind a lug 43 preferably struck out of the body of the bracket 31 adjacent its lower flanged edge. When the standard 19 is in the broken line position illustrated, the free end portion thereof carrying the lamp is located within the recess 16 of the typewriter and the top portion 14 of the carrying case may be placed over the typewriter thus enclosing both the typewriter and the lamp without requiring disassembly of any of the parts thereof.

It is believed that my invention, its mode of construction and assembly, and many of its advantages should be readily understood from the foregoing without further description, and it should also be manifest that while a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described for illustrative purposes, the structural details are nevertheless capable of wide variation within the purview of my invention as defined in the appended claim.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A lamp fixture comprising a bracket including a flat body portion and a perpendicular flange on one edge of the body portion, an arm of tubular cross-section throughout substantially its entire length having a flattened end portion and an aperture at the juncture of said end portion with the tubular cross-section to receive an electric cord therethrough, a pin for pivotally securing said flattened end portion to the face of the bracket body, a spring on said pin for urging the arm into surface engagement with the bracket body, a lamp receiving socket on the other end of said arm, a U-shaped lug on said body portion engageable by the tubular portion of the arm to support it in one position of adjustment and firmly against the body portion, a second U-shaped lug on said body portion engageable by the flattened end portion to support the arm in another position of adjustment and to hold it firmly against the body portion, a clamp plate carried by the flange, and means to draw the clamp plate toward the flange to grip a support firmly between said clamp plate and flange.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,596,766 Rogers Aug. 17, 1926 1,795,857 Havenstein Mar. 10, 1931 2,289,471 Welter July 14, 1942 2,716,531 Johnson Aug. 30, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 646,132 France July 10, 1928 771,545 France July 30, 1934 

